


Opportunity for Career Advancement

by Turbulent_Muse



Series: Magnusquerade stories [14]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Do Not Archive, Gen, Major Character Undeath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turbulent_Muse/pseuds/Turbulent_Muse
Summary: A Magnusquerade fic. Mike Crew makes a choice.
Series: Magnusquerade stories [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600123
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41
Collections: The_Magnusquerade





	Opportunity for Career Advancement

It followed him. Everywhere. In his dreams it was a creature of pure lightning but when he was awake it was a man. Mike knew the two were the same though. The man had the lightning in its eyes. It was visible from a distance, which was the only way Mike ever saw it, for though the lightning man was always chasing him, it never caught him. Mike knew it could, at any time, but it didn’t. It was like it was savoring his fear. And there was nothing he could do to get it to leave.

Until he found the book. It was a book of magic, but, as it turned out, not any kind of magic that was useful to him. But if this was real, then maybe there was more out there, maybe there was something that could help him. So he set out in search of anything he could find from the library of Jurgen Leitner.

It took years before he found the right book. It had in it a binding spell, a spell that could be used to trap the lightning man. There were… certain requirements, though. To perform the spell he had to die.

Mike wasn’t discouraged by this. In this book and the others he had learned of creatures that could live on after death. Creatures like the lightning man, and others, different kinds serving different gods. And he knew when he read of the Vast that he could happily sell it his soul.

To say that Mike was unafraid of heights, of falling, of the impossible to comprehend bigness of the universe would be wrong. But along with that fear was a thrill. A quick beating of the heart, an exhilarating drop of the stomach, a hastening of the breath. He loved it. Though it had created the lightning that struck him all those years ago, he knew it had not birthed the lightning man. And he loved it.

It took searching to find what he needed— _who_ he needed. But he did, and he got what he wanted. All he had to do to seal the change was die.

It would be simple. No, that’s inaccurate, dying is in no way simple. But it would be easy. All he had to do was jump out of the window. He had said the words of the spell to trap the lightning man, who was, for now, caught in the room at the top of the belltower with him. All he had to do now was jump, and he would be free.

He felt the blood he had been given singing through his veins. He felt amazing, he felt like he could _fly_. And he knew that, after he jumped out of the window, he would be able to.

The rush of the blood was doing it’s best to drown out his nerves but he still had to take a deep breath as he stood at the edge. Then he looked at the sky that would soon claim him. It was beautiful. He cried, “I am yours!” And jumped.

He felt the terrifying, beautiful thrill of freefall for the rest of his life.

When he awoke he knew the lightning man was gone, trapped. But something else was wrong. It was _wrong_ and for a moment he didn’t know how to fix it. Then Herbert Knox came stumbling out of the belltower, frantic and breathing heavily.

Ah, of course. Mike knew his freedom would come with a price. And he was more than happy to make others pay it. He bared his new fangs and charged.


End file.
